[nagdu] vehicular homicide

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Jeanine.
That sounds like an excellent idea.  I'll see if I can drum up any work on
it here in Jersey, home of crazed drivers.
Tracy

> In August 2009 my mother was killed when a car swerved left of center and
> hit her car. The driver said he'd fallen asleep momentarily after working
> a
> night shift. This happened at 1:00pm on a bright sunny day.
>
> He was charged with several things but vehicular homicide was the charge
> for
> my mother's death. Reckless operation was another charge as was failure to
> provide insurance coverage.
>
> One might say it was purely an accident as he didn't intend to kill
> anyone.
>
> He has served his time in prison and is without his license for the next 6
> years with a permanent ban if he violates parole.
>
> I say all this to note that blind, sighted, or even canine, the penalties
> for striking and killing someone with a vehicle are much less than you may
> think. We were shocked at the 6 month jail term with 2 year probation and
> license restrictions. He can't even drive to work.
>
> I do feel for the drivers here but again, it's their responsibility to
> look
> out for pedestrians and drive accordingly. Same thing with assured clear
> distance for the second driver. That's why such a law exists btw, to give
> you time to stop or swerve. Hello?
>
> I live in a neighborhood with no sidewalks and some curving roads. I take
> every precaution to assure that my dog and I are visible both during the
> day
> and in low lighting and I mind which side of the street I walk on at the
> curves to be most visible. I expect drivers in the area to do their part
> as
> well. We are lucky to have local police for our village versus the city of
> Columbus police with far fewer patrols, but that won't help me if someone
> swerves just that tiny bit.
>
> Maybe a good initiative for NAGDU would be to start speaking to local
> Driver's Ed classes about how blind people travel and what the pedestrian
> laws are for your state and local areas. I believe one of the GDUI
> chapters
> did this, maybe in Maine, and ended up getting 1 or 2 questions about what
> to do when encountering a blind pedestrian on their state driver's test.
>
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
>
>
>
>
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